SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: Some Movies That Changed Filmmaking | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey everybody, continuing the stuff you. should know summer movie playlist. This. episode from February 2015 focuses on. some movies that changed film making. From the very beginning of the film. industry up to Star Wars and beyond, all. these movies pushed the whole thing. forward that much more and got us to. where we are today. And as a bonus, Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes a. nice little cameo in here. Enjoy. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a.

production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck. Bryant aka Cisco and Eert. Save us the. aisle seat. And Jerry's over there. I. guess she's Jean Shallot. That's That's the uh stuff you should. know. try on for it. I don't know why that tickled me so. much. Cuz Jean Salot's a funny looking,

I guess. Yeah, Jerry's not. I'm just. picturing her with a big afro and a. mustache and like a tweed jacket and bad. opinions about movies. Jean Charlotte. had a look for sure. Still he's around, right? Uh oh, yeah, I think so. Yeah. RIP. Both uh Cisco and Eert. So sad. I. know. Um have you seen the Roger Eert. documentary? No, I've heard nothing but. good things. really really good. Very. touching. Yeah. What is it? Uh. something life life uh like mine. Life.

with me. Life on top. Life itself. Life. with thumbs. Life itself. Life itself. Life with thumbs. It was really great. And I watched it on made the mistake of. watching on a plane and I was just like. my allergies are acting up. Oh yeah. Oh. yeah. I was I was watering. Because of. your allergies? No. Because I was sad. I. was crying. Do you want me to say it? Oh. yeah, crying on a plane. I was confused. there for a second. That's better than. when I watch other movies that are on my.

laptop that are like uh have like bad. violence or or nudity or something. I'm. always just like, "Oh." And I kind of. lower the laptop and it's like, "I. didn't realize this was in here." And. the lady next to me is just like, "Gh, you disgust me." Yeah. Cuz I don't you I. want to be sensitive to the people. around me, you know? I'm not one of. those jerks that's like just lives in my. own bubble. It's like watching some sex. scene on a plane. Oh, you're like. elbowing the lady. Yeah. No, I hate it. I was I was so embarrassed. That. happened to me a couple of times. I'm. like, I needed to start going PG on.

movies. Yeah. He just looked like. airplanes. Jud Appattow. Huh? Am I. right? He's unpredictable. Yeah. All right. So, Chuck, this is your. episode to shine, man. Is it? Yes. You're a movie guy, too, though. I like. movies, but I've I almost consciously. don't let myself watch movies on a like. a film afficionado level. Oh, right. You're just pure enjoyment. Yeah. I. don't ever want to see the individual. shots and just be like, "Oh, well, that.

could have been better." Whatever. Um. and and just miss the movie as a whole. Yeah, I fall somewhere in the middle of. that. I try to let go, but um like our. our video producer director Casey is is. pretty bad about that. And our buddy. Scotty who shot our TV show. Oh, he's. the worst. Yeah, he's just the camera. work and that lighting in that scene. Yeah, Scott's awesome. Hey, Scott. Hey, Casey. They're all in here with us in. spirit. And hey, this is the last show. in this studio. Yeah, last episode in.

the old office. Yep. The murder room. Couldn't feel more neutral about it. I. actually feel less than neutral, less. than zero. It's It's weird. That was a. good movie. Thank you. Great shots. Yeah. I say thank you as if I directed. it. Right. I not only directed it, I. also played Andrew McCarthy. Uh yeah, I'm ready to get the heck out. of here, man. Can't wait to get in that. new office and the Yeah, it's gonna be. good. tiny little dedicated studio. Whole new world. All right, let's do.

this. Okay. So, Chuck, films, you've. seen one or two of them in your time. Sure. Have you seen any of the ones in. this list? I know you've seen a few of. them, but have you seen like some of the. early ones? I've seen Well, we'll just. go piece by piece because I have not. seen Battleship Pankin. Okay. Um, but I. do love Mandy Pankin. It's a little. different. Yes. In spelling, pronunciation, meaning the whole thing. Uhhuh. But it's close, I guess. But we're talking of course about films.

that change film making in some way or. another. And the first one on the list. is from 1925. Battleship Petkin. That's. hard for me to say. Which is not the. first movie, by the way. The first. screen movie was workers leaving the. Lumiere factory, which is 47 seconds. long and the most boring piece of. celluloid anyone's ever put together. But it was the first. That's right. This. was many years. That was a full 30 years. before Battleship PMPkin. By the time 30. years had passed, like we were doing. like narratives and there was banning.

and all sorts of great stuff. Yeah. And. Battleship Pinkin fell under both of. those umbrellas. It was a narrative. story. It was a silent movie. That's. right. But it told a pretty clear story. and it was a bit of Russian propaganda. as well. Yeah. It tells the story of uh. a 1905 uprising in uh where there were. Russian sailors uh basically uh there. was a mutiny aboard a ship and then the. bad guys the casaks came in looking for. uh revenge. Yeah. 1905 that would have. been rising up against tyranny would.

have been rising up against the um. Romanoff monarchy I guess. Nice. But it. was made in 1925. So this is a time when. you know Lenin and Trosky and all those. dudes were running around trying to do. the great experiment. Yeah. And uh it. ends up turns out that the battleship. pmpkin was banned in some countries. Some countries are like we don't want. this rusky propaganda. Right. But Russia. itself later on banned it when Stalin.

came to power because he was a. self-aware dictator. Oh, was that the. deal? Yeah. Okay. He knew this could be. a metaphor for rising up against my. dictatorship. So, I'm going to just ban. this movie. Oh, yeah. Even though it's. Russian propaganda. Well, filmatically, I need to bring the. history, by the way. Uh, filmatically. speaking, it was a landmark film uh. because of the montage. uh most notably. the Russian or Soviet theory of montage. which is basically that um your impact.

is going to come from juxtaposition of. shots and not necessarily a smooth. sequence of shots, right? Um and it. should be rhythmic instead of. necessarily being tied to the story. It. was like a a a rhythmic series of shots. and um this one is popular. Um it was. the Odessa step sequence as one of the. five acts and it is huge because it has. been aped and um mimicked and mocked and.

um homagged probably more than I don't. know about more but a lot of times in. film history. Well, yeah, the montage. it's like a go-to. editing technique, right? Oh, yeah. Well, the montage in general, but. specifically the Odessa steps. Oh, okay. There are two notable parts in that. sequence. Uh, one is the um, you know, it's basically a big charge on these. these grand steps leading up to a. building and a big battle in Odessa, Odessa, Texas. And, um, there's a part. of it where there's the old the old baby.

carriage going down the steps. You know, what's going to happen to the baby? And. it sounds tired because we've seen that. in uh, you know, the untouchables. Yeah. Notably the I did not find it tiresome. Uh, naked gun 33 and a third. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Everything is Illuminated, the. great movie by Leah Shriber. Um, that was from directly from the Odessa. step sequence in Battleship Pinkin. Nice. The baby carriage. Yeah. And the. old um shot through shot in the eye.

through the glasses. Oh, cool. That. comes from this movie, too. They were. the first ones to do it. Yeah. Um, and. you've seen that in Woody Allen's Love. and Death and Bananas and of course The. Godfather, the great sequence where Mo. Green's getting the massage and he looks. up and puts on his glasses during a. montage. Yeah, that's exactly that whole. sequence. Assassination montage. Yeah, because that was uh an assassination on. the steps as well. Oh, yeah. So, that. was definitely a double. Who was that? That was Francis Ford Copela. Oh, yeah. He he was clearly aware of battleship.

pmpkin. Clearly. I was trying to think. of other examples of montages and the. only thing I could come up with was the. A team building something, but that. counts as a montage, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's like a some related in some. way related shots that are kind of put. together that a little bit transcend. like tell a story in itself. Yeah. Like. Rocky training for a fight or something. That's another good one. A lot of times. it's set to music. Yeah. I love that. That's the only one you could think of. And uh in the great movie Brazil 2 has.

the shot through the glasses bit as I. like to call it. So that's battleship at. Damin. Doesn't one of the Nazis in. Raiders of the Lost Arc get shot through. the glasses? Maybe that wouldn't. surprise me. It's been it's been ofted, you know. Yeah. So Battleship Pmpkin was. a it made a pretty big splash in 1925. In 1926, the following year, the next movie on the list, um I it. wasn't his first, but it really. solidified, I think, his stardom. Buster.

Katon stardom. Yeah. The general. Rightfully so, too. Yeah. He was uh one. of the great um well, some people call. him the greatest stunt man to ever live. It he's done some stuff that I think. earns him that. Yeah. Because this is. back in the day, too, where he was. legitimately risking his life, right? You know, like the the very famously. where he's standing on the street in. front of a house and then the whole. front of the house falls over him and. the window just goes right around him. Yeah, I watched that again today. Yeah,

it is. I can't believe he did that. You And. there's actually a half of a second. where his arm jerks up because he's. startled as the house finally makes its. way like into his peripheral vision. Yeah. And it has to be one of the most. dangerous things a human being's ever. done on film. Oh yeah. I'm sure the. whole time before that was like, "We did. the math, right? You did the math. Do. the math again. Do the math again. Show. me the math. Show me the math." Yeah. Because that's all it was. It was math.

and measurements, right? But uh yeah, he. could have been squashed and killed very. easily. And he had a lot of faith in. everybody who was pulling off the stunt. with him. You know, he had to just stand. there. That was his whole thing was he. had to just stand there. And his bit was. that he um was he played it straight. constantly. He was a stonefaced actor. Yeah. Deadpan. Yeah. He kind of started. that whole thing because his big um I. was about to say rival but I guess um. just contemporary Charlie Chaplan while. similar in some ways was completely.

different because Chaplain was. constantly mugging for the camera and. like asking for the audience uh. sympathy, right? Or raising his eyebrows. or Yeah. Like look what's happening to. me. Come on. Come on. Whereas Buster. Katon would just he had that dead pan. look the whole time. Yeah. He would go. from like a house falling around him to. jumping on a train or something like. that with just the same blank facial. expression. Yeah. And the reason this is. a highly influential film, The General, is because it kind of showcases the best. of both. um the the amazing stunts that. would be mimicked and uh throughout the.

years and built upon and then the dead. pan style that influenced everyone from. obviously Bill Murray is one of the. great deadpan actors of all time. Yeah. Like you can count the number of times. Bill Murray even smiles in a movie on. like two hands. Sure. Much less like. apes or laughs or anything. Michael. Sarah's mentioned in here and I'm like. he I think he might have Bill Murray. beat as far as dead pan actor goes. Yeah. Well, Zach Galifanakis is on the. list. He's super dead pan. Yeah. Um.

Leslie Nielsen of course. Amy Polar I. think is a is a a woman that's a very. dead pan. Yeah. Has a dead pan style. Jason Schwarzman. Yes. But people say. this is this all is a direct descendant. of Buster Katon's work. Yeah. And if you. think we're overstating this, go watch. any Buster Katon movie. You will be. thrilled and delighted. And if your. attention span has been shredded to. ribbons by the internet, just go on to. YouTube and type in Buster Katon and. it'll bring up all sorts of um clips of.

his awesome stunts. You will be thrilled. and amazed. I promise. Yeah. And I think. I made a note here, by the way, that we. have a Fatty Arbuckle retraction to. make. Uh remember when we we called him. out as the rapist murderer? I didn't say. murderer. Well, we said rapist at least, right? But uh we were taken a task by a. fan. He was he had he was acquitted of. all that stuff. And apparently didn't do. uh either act. And um his career and. life and family name were ruined.

forever. So he was um evidently done a. grave misjustice. And we sort of. cavalerely just uh still call him that. today. Yeah. I need to look into it. more. Uh all right. Hey, so next up we. have the Jazz Singer, the 1927 edition. Not the Neil Diamond one. No. And there. was one in between, too. Uh with Danny. Thomas, I believe. Um I like Neil. Diamonds. It's good. I never saw it. Did. you ever see it? No. No, it's not bad. Um, but this is the original from Allan. Crossland, and it is notable because it.

was. the first featurelength. uh movie that was. at least 25% spoken dialogue, right? Does that make sense? Yeah, it's totally. new. Yeah. It wasn't It wasn't the first. talkie because they had short films that. were talks, right? And there was a movie. the next year, I'm sorry. Yeah. in 1928. called Lights of New York that had 100%. full spoken dialogue, but The Jazz. Singer had a mix of music and spoken.

dialogue, right? The first big big daddy. featurelength film to do so, right? With. substantial dialogue, right? Yeah. And. they they. did it in the most roundabout difficult. way that you could possibly do it, which. is to record the audio and the the. soundtrack, both the dialogue and the. music onto vinyl records. Yeah. Probably. wax records really. And then um the. projectionist had to sync the record up. with the film strip so everything was in.

sync. Yeah. That was a device called a. vitafhone that Warner Brothers uh sunk. about half a million into uh this. company called Western Electric who. invented it and it was actually. physically connected to the projector's. motor. Ah um so they did while they did. have to sync it, it was it was a a. physical connection between the. phongraph player and the projection uh. uh reel I guess. Yeah. And it went on to. gross three and a half million bucks for. 1927. That's man lot of dough. That's a.

ton of dough. That's like56. million today at least. Yeah, at least. But uh was ineligible for the best. picture because they were just like you. you can't compete with the rest. It's. not fair. Oh wow. Because everything. else is silent and everyone's going to. vote for you. Yeah. So that changed the. whole game for sure. Uh we will continue. on with our awesome and engrossing list. right after this.

Stop. [Music]. [Music]. So, Chuck, um, if you'll notice, the. first three movies in our list, the. first three films that changed. everything happened in 1925, 26, and 27. Things were changing fast. They really. were. I mean, like we by leaps and.

bounds, but you can also make the case. that there was a lot of new ground to. cover. So, just about anybody who did. anything new that was noteworthy in. Yeah. It was a big innovation. Yeah. Yeah. Harder to innovate these days. It. is. Um, and if you'll notice on the. list, um, so the the earliest ones were. like technical editing innovations. Um, now starting with Citizen Canain from. 1941, we start to get into innovations. in storytelling, which is a a lot more.

nuanced than, you know, um, doing your. own stunts or, uh, using a montage or. something. It's it's figuring out how to. tell a story in a much less linear. narrative fashion. Yeah. And Citizen. Came was one of the early ones to. pioneer a nonlinear narrative. Yeah. Did. you uh, you saw this? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I didn't see it till I mean it was. probably like. uh probably about 15 years ago, but like. way later than you would think I would.

have seen this. Yeah. As a big film. buff. I saw it in college at a um in a. film class. Yeah. Sure. Yep. Often. Yeah. If you sign up for a film class, you're going to study Citizen Camp. Exactly. Pretty much. I finally found. out where Rose Bud was. Don't ruin it. I. won't. Uh, but it is a landmark film in. every way and it has often been topped. of best films of all time lists for. great reasons. Um, one of which, like. you said, the nonlinear narrative was a.

really unique thing at the time. Um, although Flashback wasn't uh brand new, it was the first time it had been this. extensive. Yeah. And effective in the. story. Yeah. Cuz I mean, it's. substantial enough that it really cuts. up the flow. Oh, yeah. You know, it's. not like a quick flashback and they come. back and the actor is like staring off. into space to transition back into the. present again. I mean, like it was all. over the place. Yeah. You know, uh some. of the more um concrete cinematic uh.

landmarks. Uh one was using deep focus. uh director of photography Greg Toland, legend, used uh he had used deep focus. before on a movie called Long Voyage. Home, but um it's all over the place in. Citizen Cane. And that basically means. if you see a shot where something uh. very far away is in focus in the shot, basically where everything's in focus. where the background and the foreground. are in focus. So you can press pause and. look around. Exactly. Like you're.

sticking your head into a box. Yeah. That's called deep focus. Yeah. and it. was brand new uh as far as Citizen Cane. uh goes is how extensive it used it. Yeah. Uh one of the other things was um. offc center framing. Um it was a big you. know pretty common thing to just center. whatever the main action was either the. the character or the object and um. Citizen Kane had a lot of things where. the main focus of the scene the. character maybe even offscreen. uh which was really weird at the time.

people didn't know what to think of it, right? Um expressionistic lighting. Uh. back then everything they just lit it. They're like make sure everything's well. lit. Yeah. Um but wasn't Auto Premier. also like a big pioneer with that. Yeah, I think so. With um DM for Murder or I. think he directed that. Was that. Hitchcock? I think that was Hitchcock. Was it? Okay. Well, Auto Premature. directed stuff like that though, right? He was very He used moody lighting and. shadows and stuff a lot. I probably. messed that up. people are going to be. dial in for murder. I think it was.

preager. Okay. Um but uh Orson Wells of. course I don't think we even mentioned. that's who wrote, directed, starred and. produced and I think he even edited. Citizen Kain. Yeah. I just assumed. everybody knew that, you know. Yeah. Um. he came from the theater where uh you. create a mood with lighting uh only. certain parts of the stage. So, he. brought that into the movies and uh it. was very um evocative and set the mood. well and people are like, "Man, why are.

we lighting everything all bright all. the time? Look at Citizen Kane. This. really worked." Yeah. Um couple of other. things. One of which I know you will. appreciate, sir, is that he pretty much. invented the wipe. Oh, the star wipe. Not the star wipe, but it followed. Yeah, the star wipe followed. Okay. which I know is your favorite transition. in cinema. Oh, it's almost star because. it almost makes a sound, you know. Uh,

and by the way, I want to say you're. right. Dam for Murder was Hitchcock. Oh, was it? Yeah. Okay. What was Premature? Did you look that up? He did one called. Laura, the man with the golden arm. It's. not who I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of. a director named Otto who directed in. like the 20s or 30s and he directed like. moody um like like moody movies like. yeah murder movies. Yeah, like Phil. Noir. Yes, Phil Noir. That's exactly. what I was going for. And I don't. remember who it was. Maybe his name was. Otto Fil Noir. He's French. Um, and then.

one final thing, of course, that you. could study Citizen Cane for a week in a. film class, so this is an overview, but. um, the low angle shots, um, people. didn't use a lot of low or high angle. shots back then. It was kind of just. shot from straight on. And, um, Morrison. Wells even dug out, cut out the floor a. lot of times to get the camera lower. Wow. And for the first time, we saw. ceilings in view uh, in a movie because. quite often things were shot on a sound. stage where you don't have ceilings. and.

um he wanted those low angle shots so. they used um fabric most times to act as. a ceiling but very effective shots of. from below of uh Orson Wells as uh I. mean it wasn't exactly William Randph. Hurst but it was an approximation of. William Randph Hurst right it's a very. effective low angle stuff that now I. mean we take for granted all these. things um but you know there would be no. pulp fiction in that uh nonlinear. storytelling if there was know. Well,

maybe somebody would have done it, but. maybe eventually, but you know, he did. the first and and that's why it was. innovative. Exactly. It's Fritz Lang. that I was Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Fritz Lang Metropolis and M. Just M. That's okay. Yeah, it's all making sense. now. I get confused. Yeah, but you were. right on You were right there. Fritz and. auto are not close. I mean, they're both. German, but that's about it. Yeah, but. do you know the difference between M and. dial M? Just a telephone.

What's up next, Chuck? Breathless. One. of my faves. So, I am going to uh rely. on you mostly for this one because I. looked up what the French New Wave. really did, what it accounted for. Yeah. And like all of the essays I found were. hard to they were dense. Yeah. And I. didn't really understand I understood. that the French New Wave like changed. everything. Yeah. and that a lot of the. movies that I know and love today are.

the um offspring of the French New Wave, but I still didn't get exactly. specifically what the French New Wave. did. And you were going to rely on me to. summarize this? Yeah. No pressure. No. Well, for me, the French New Wave. basically ushered in an era of uh what. now I think most people might associate. with indie film making. Okay. Okay. like. uh handheld camera work and what some. people at the time considered amateurish. camera work. Um movies where maybe not a.

lot seemingly happens. You know, nothing. grand happens, which was the case in. Breathless. A lot of people didn't like. it at the time because it was like, you. know, not much happens. you know, that. the the two leads in the movie, uh, Jean. Paul Belando and Jean Seabourg weren't. really like didn't show express a whole. lot of deep love and there weren't these. big moments of love and affection and. these huge action sequences and it was. described as flat by a lot of people.

Um, and I think a lot of indie movies do. that just kind of show life as it. happens. Yeah. So without Breathless, we. wouldn't have like Bottle Rocket. Maybe. Wes Anderson is definitely a big French. new wave guy. Yeah, for sure. Um, but. uh, Godard, John Lu Goddard who directed. it and Trufo and some other um, French. new wave forefathers were film critics. at first. Oh yeah. Yeah. And they. decided as a group like we want to look. at cinema in a new wave um, and do.

something different. So they went and. started making their own movies. That's. like uh James Fenomore Cooper. Oh yeah. The guy who wrote Last of the Moheakans. Oh, really? Yeah. He apparently used to. complain that like nobody wrote good. books anymore. And so I think his wife. or something said, "Well, why don't you. do a big shot?" And he did. And the. books he wrote weren't so great, but he. he he went and wrote them. And he wrote. a bunch of them, too. One of my favorite. far sides ever is the um second to the.

last of the Moheakans. It's just a line. of uh of Native Americans and the second. to the last one. They're online facing. away. He's just sort of turning around. and waving at the camera. That is a good. one. or I guess the camera at Gary. Larson's hand. Um, so Breathless is. notable for those reasons. It kind of. kicked off the French New Wave, but the. use of jump cut editing, which we see so. much now. It was the first movie, and it. was very jarring at the time to see jump. cuts in a movie. Yeah, I'll bet. Uh, and. that's when you're showing like uh I.

guess the best way to describe it is um. multiple shots of the same. subject or thing from different angles, right? It's like um you indicate the. progression of time or movement or. something by just cutting quickly rather. than focusing on somebody walking down. the street for five minutes. Yeah. You. cut a couple of times and all of a. sudden they're just closer to the camera. and then closer and closer and then. they're past the camera. It's a jump. cut. Yeah. Or even as simple something. as simple as like you're going to leave.

the house so you go and pick up your. keys and you put on your coat. Instead. of showing all that, you come out of the. bedroom, boom, you're putting on your. coat. Boom. You're putting the keys in. the door. Right. Exactly. You're just. showing the high highlights of this. progression of stuff where that would. otherwise be boring to watch the whole. thing, but it also um is used to create. tension, too. Yeah. It because it's it's. um jarring, I guess, is probably why it. creates tension. And Scorsesei famously. used it in Good Fellas. Oh, yes. At the. end when Henry Hill is like like trying.

to sell some guns to Nero. Yeah. He's. coked to the gills, right? and he's like. trying to sell some guns to Nero, but. they don't fit the silencers. And like. he's the helicopter's following him. He's got the sauce going and all this. stuff is being represented and. compressed into a very short amount of. time by the use of jump cuts. Yeah. Very. effective. And for budding filmmakers, it's a great way to hide mistakes. um of things you may not have gotten.

that you thought you got. Um, jump. cutting is a really easy way to to just. sort of uh yeah, to hide your errors. Yeah, I I did it a lot. In other words, when I was making those shorts, I um I. was I realized in my head I was. referencing the um shot in Soul Taker. You have you ever seen that Mystery. Science 3000 with It's um his last name. is Estz. It's Martin Sheen's brother. Uhhuh. And uh he is a soul taker and. he's next to this guy who's a soul.

taker. You just have to see this. But anyway, they're they're walking down the road. and this jump cut like has this. progression of them, right? It It's so. unnecessary, but it's like a great use. of jump cut. You could tell the director. was like, "I can't wait to use a jump. cut." And that's what she did. She used. it on. Um, but go watch that MST3K. It's. a good one. Man, you've Did you see. every single one of those episodes? No, it's still I still run across ones that. I haven't seen. Yeah. Nice. Um,

hey, and a shout out to Bill Corbett, who I know is a listener. Oh, yeah, he. is, isn't he? Yeah. I don't know if he's. gonna hear this one, but um, the great. Bill Corbett. Soul Taker. Uh, next we are going to move on to. Federrico. Felinis, eight and a half. You ever seen this. one? No, I haven't. It's good. Now I. understand why it's called that though. Yeah, it was one of the first, although. not the first, movies about movie. making. and uh starring the great. Marcelo Mastriania Masterani.

from Lulchvita. Mhm. Uh a muse of. Fellinis over the years too. And this. one um this one really kicked off the. surrealist film making and sort of. saying you can play around and shoot a. dream sequence where the the guy's in. traffic and then he leaves his car and. floats up in the air and is, you know, being pulled down to the ground on the. beach from a rope tied around his ankle. just like go nuts. Yeah. And successive. filmmakers did go nuts like um Gandry.

did uh Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless. Mind. Oh yeah. He's hugely influenced. Um Darren Areronowski Mhm. did some. weird stuff here or there. Yeah. Um. David Lynch and Terry Gilliam of course. Yeah. Just basically surrealism is is. what I'm taking Fellini introduced into. this. Yeah. For real. And um besides the. surrealism uh that opening sequence of 8. and a half where the director of um he's. the director in the movie uh Guido is.

stuck in traffic. It's really. claustrophobic feeling and that's why he. floats away uh and escapes you know that. that traffic jam. But that was directly. mimicked in like RM's Everybody Hurts. video. Oh yeah. And um the beginning of. the movie Falling Down. Do you remember. that? That started with the traffic jam. that Michael Douglas just left. He. doesn't float. He gets like an uzi. I. saw that again the other day. Most of. it. Does it hold up? It's weird. It alternately felt way. ahead of its time and also very dated.

Yeah, because the stuff that Michael. Douglas was doing felt way ahead of its. time. But then there was I just forgot about. that whole um weird subplots with Robert. Duval retiring and he had this wife that. was henpecking him and like this. retirement party they were trying to. throw him. I forgot about that too. Yeah. It was just so unnecessary and. felt really weird and out of place the. other day. Yeah. When I was watching it. Was there like a jump cut montage where. he's putting on his watch, his gold.

retirement watch? No. But then too, the Barbara Hershey, you know, is in Venice at home with the. daughter and he spends a whole day. coming there to grab them basically. And. the whole time she just keeps calling. the cops like, "I know he's coming. I. know he's coming." And I was watching. the other day I was like, "Freaking. leave." Oh yeah. What are you doing. there? Yeah. That's a movie character. thing. You know, that's just bad writing, bad. directing. When you just walk right past. the ability to leave, there's you you.

missed a huge step. Where were we? Falling down. Yeah, I think that pretty. much sums up eight and a half. I think. so, too. Falling down. Boom. So, Chuck, uh, we got a little more left. We got. more films. Is this making you want to. watch films? Yeah, me too. I feel like. eating ice cream, watching a film, and. scratching from Poison Ivy lately. Yeah. And burning this office down. Uh, you. know, if that happens now, suspicion's. going to fall on you for saying that. That's all right. Uh, we'll be right.

back after this. Stop. No. [Music]. All right. So, we're back with our. awesome jingles, which by the way, um we. we have to thank uh John Bean. Begin. John begin.

the begin. He even emailed with the. pronunciation of his name, but he um the. original guy who did our jingle, the. first jingle ever, Rusty Mattius or. Matias. Man, I'm not good with the. pronunciation. Uh well, anyway, Rusty, who's band, The Sheep Dogs, are on tour. right now. Yeah. Um just because his. work was so original, we contacted him. and said, "Hey, we got this other guy. who's done like covers of your work. Can. we use these?" He's like, "Totally mash. it up, brother." And John's been making.

awesome like versions of it ever since. Yeah, they're both great and talented. Thanks to you both. And go check out uh. I think what you say they're on tour, right? Yeah, the Sheep Dogs. Yeah, go. check out The Sheep Dogs. Yep. In a town. near you. Yeah. All right, let's uh. finish with these two in reverse order. Okay. Toy Story was a big one. Hugely. innovative. Huge. Oh, yeah. And again, it's one of. those things where now almost everything. about it seems pedestrian. Sure. or what. it did. Yeah. See, it's still a great.

movie, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Um but the. the innovations that it it undertook or. just seemed pedestrian, but at the time. it was totally groundbreaking. Yeah. Game changer. It was the first um the. first CGI movie, all CGI movie ever. Yeah. That was enormous. Well, yeah. And. I remember at the time seeing it and. just being like, "Wow, this is the. future of animated films." What's the. best all CGI animated film you've ever. seen visually? Uh, well, I haven't seen.

a lot of them these days because Emily. doesn't like those, so I probably. wouldn't be the best person to ask. Holly from uh Stuff Mom or Stuff You. Miss in History Class. She'd probably be. the one to ask. For my money, have you. seen The Adventures of Tintin? Oh, yeah. That was amazing. Mind. blowing. Yeah, I saw that on your. recommendation. Really, really liked it. Yeah, the story was great. The action. was great, the characters were great, but the CGI, the computer animation is,

I think, possibly the best ever done. Yeah. And that's a bit of a different. style than say like Up or um The. Incredibles. It's not nearly as. cartoonish. It's like the what I think. it's the motion capture. Yeah. I think. that's what they did for that. Oh, yeah. With Up it would strictly be totally. just animation, right? Yeah. But I mean, they're both animation, right? Um but. yeah, man. Tinten, that was really good. It was good. I was surprised how much I. like that. But Up was good, too, and Toy. Story was good, too. And but all of. these things came as a result of the the. ground that Toy Story broke. Absolutely. In 1995, um like you said, what seems.

like a common uh thing today. I mean, you don't see cell animation anymore. It's almost I know. I kind of miss it. I. totally miss it. Like the new um Mickey. Mouse is all weird and CG. Like stuff. from our generation should have just. been discontinued. Yeah. And then you. just come up with all new stuff that's. CGI. Strawberry Shortcake not supposed. to be CGI. It just all looks weird now. Yeah. I wish there would have people. would have done a little bit of both. still because I think Cell animation.

like uh I think the Iron Giant came out. after Toy Story and they did Cell. Animation. Yeah. And that was great. Yeah. Great movie. I haven't seen that. Oh, it's really good. You'd like it. uh. like it was a movie for grown-ups and. Toy Story sort of laid the way for that. because uh it was one of the first. movies um I guess cartoony kids movies. to really have a lot of dialogue that. flew over kids heads that adults got a. little nod and a wink. What? Toy Story. Yeah. Yeah. Not like Dirty Horror, but. it's not like Fritz the Cat. No, no, no.

But a little entandre here and there. that adults might appreciate that kids. won't understand. Right. Those are the. best jokes, right? Um, and now we have, you know, best animated. uh feature in the Oscars, which. definitely came straight out of uh the. original Toy Story because movie started. being considered before they created its. own category. Uh, Up and Toy Story 3. were actually nominated for regular best. picture. Yeah. And I think everyone was. like, "Oo, we need to get them their own.

category because we can't have an. animated movie win best picture, can. we?" Well, Up would have come after um. the the best animated picture category. came out. Oh, really? So, that kind of. goes as a testament to just how amazing. that movie is. Yeah, that's right. That. was that it was still up for best. picture. Oh, it was both. I don't know. if it was up for It probably was up for. best animated as well, but it was. definitely also up for best picture. Oh, wow. While there was an animated. category. Yeah, I I never considered. that. Bam. That was a good movie. Yeah,

it was sweet. Um, so I got nothing else. in Toy Story. Well, then what about the. last one? Yeah. 2001 of Space Odyssey. Man, quite a film. You sent this uh. essay on Criterion, I think. criterion.com, but you know, the. Criterion Collection. Yeah. Um, it was. written, I guess, in 1988, even though it says posted in 1988. It's. like there wasn't an internet to post it. on in 1988. Maybe it means posted it.

like in the mail. Maybe. Um, but it I. realized like I can read film essays. about Stanley Kubri's work all day long. Yeah, me too. Like I love that. documentary um room 227. Was it 227? 237. 246. 23 237 247. You. know the one about the shining. conspiracy theories? Yeah, the the. number of the room is amazing. I can't. remember though. Um I I read a bunch of. articles is I think 237. Um, I read a.

bunch of articles around the release of. that documentary, which were basically. like film essays on C on The Shining. I. read this one amazing one um from. several years ago about Eyes Wide Shut. about how it's like a a masterpiece of. sociology. studying sociology. A lot of people hate. that movie. Yeah. Um, and then now this. like 2001, I'm sure there's tons out. there to consume, but I I can just read. that stuff all day long because that guy. was so.

just amazingly detailed as a director. Yeah, I agree. I can read more about his. work, critical essays on his work than. any other director. Right. It's just. unbelievable. It's almost like it's its. own genre. It is. You know, Kubrician. Yeah. It's got a word named after it. And well, it should. Um so 2001, A Space. Odyssey, 1968. Um blew minds back then, blows minds today. uh one for its uh. just the amazing look and the technical. achievement. Um it ages really well. I.

mean if you see a movie from 1968 about. outer space, it still looks like the. future. Yeah. You don't expect it to. hold up well. But it totally does. Um so. much so that a lot of the you know. George Lucas and Ridley Scott were just. like it's done, right? Like we might as. well give up. Yeah. George Lucas when. Star Wars came out said Star Wars is. technically comparable but for my money. 2001 is by far the better movie. Yeah. Everyone was sort of intimidated I think. by how talented Kubri was. Well plus. also um you have to take into account.

that he made this movie at a time when. other sci-fi movies were just pure. schllock. Oh yeah. So, not only to to. make the movie in this way, this. visually amazing and amazing with an. audio soundtrack and just totally. innovative. It also took like that. mindset to just completely go in a. different direction that everybody else. has as well. Yeah, of course. I think. about Ridley Scott saying that and then. he goes on to make Alien and Bladeunner.

after that. So, I mean, he he helped. Prometheus, man. Yeah, I People don't. like Prometheus. I don't care. It's a. cool movie. No, I liked it, too. I. thought Okay, one one flaw, the big flaw. to me was. and I'm sure it's like part of the. subtext or the context or one of the. texts, but um the the the engineer. coming back to life or coming out of. hibernation after however long and just. immediately like inflicting violence on.

these pebbrained humans who are showing. him no threat whatsoever. Yeah, I just. thought it was a little. uh it wasn't explained well enough, I. think, for my taste. Yeah, I I think I. agree with you. But when I'm watching a. Ridley Scott movie, I just assume if I'm. missing something, he has an explanation. for it. I'm just not catching it. Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd like I think I. read some stuff about how it tied into. the alien cannon and realized I need to.

go see it again with all this knowledge. that I wasn't really thinking about. Yeah. And maybe I'd like it more. Yeah. But I haven't done that yet. So, back to. 2001. Um Oh, yeah. It was uh also. notable for uh being bookended basically. with 30 minutes of silence on both ends. of the movie. The first 30 minutes are, and when I say silent, I mean no. dialogue, right? And the last 30 minutes. have no dialogue. Yeah. The last line. comes like a full 30 minutes before the. end. Yeah. And over the 146 minutes,

there are only 40 minutes of dialogue in. the whole thing. And um that's why I. just when people compare something like. Interstellar. and call it Kubrician. I just want to. smash. Did you not like Interstellar? Not really. Oh, I liked it. I was super. let down. Despite McConna doing. Wooderson in the future, I still liked. it. I even liked him in it. I liked a. lot of the parts of it, but um to me. it's antique Kubrician because every 10.

minutes they're explaining everything. that's going on all over again. That was. another thing. Just like Inception, Inception, Ellen Paige's entire. character was written in to explain what. was going on every 10 minutes. Yeah. And. I felt like Interstellar was the same. way. It's like Christopher Nolan needs. to just trust his audience a little bit. like Kubrick did and say figure it out. or don't. Yeah. No, that's that's true. I'm not going to stop every 10 minutes. just to explain everything. Here's. what's going on. Remember or if you. didn't get it right, here's what's going. on again. Well, I think if they are.

labeling something like Interstellar is. Kubrician, right? One of the ways that. you can interpret that is that he was he. rooted his 2001 in science fact. Yeah. Right. So, like the stuff that the the. astronauts are like dealing with and the. things that are going on and the the. conditions of space, it was all factual. Whereas with Interstellar, same thing. They went to really great lengths to do. what they could to make everything.

scientifically factual. Aside from the. fact that the idea that you could go. into a black hole and then come back out. or something like that, sure, drifting. in space, that's not going to happen. But for the most part, Interstellar was. scientifically accurate. So maybe that's. what they meant when they called it. Kubrician because you're absolutely. right. Like they did explain a lot and. went to great lengths to explain a lot. Whereas with with 2001, you just watch. it the first five times like what just. happened. Yeah. And apparently Carrie. Grant had that same reaction as well. It.

was Rock Hudson. Rock Hudson. That's. right. Yeah. the original screening that. Roger Eert was at in LA, Rock Hudson. just left and said, "Can somebody tell. me what the hell that was about?" Yeah. And it wasn't even over yet. Yeah. Yeah. Um Well, the reason it it it. uh has science fact and not science. fiction is because Kubri and Arthur C. Clark, who Oh, yeah. It wasn't actually. a book that was made into a movie. It. was a movie a book made after a movie. Yeah. And they collaborated on both. And.

um they went to Carl Sean um of course. of Cosmos and said he said you're gonna. make billions and billions of dollars. That was pretty good. Was it? Yeah. Sounded a lot like him. Um they went to. Carl Sean and said, "Hey, we want to. portray these extraterrestrials. Uh are they maybe the star child is uh. or they turn Dave into the star child. Are they humanoids? What are they going. to look like?" And Sean was like, "They. were very unlikely to be humanoid." So.

Kubrick did the smart thing and was just. like, "Well, we just won't show him. right at all." Instead of making a fool. of myself like signs and making some. dumb looking alien. Oh man. Man, let me. just not show the aliens. Very smart. move. Yeah. Um, getting back to the story of uh 2001, although I think The Village is. underrated. Yeah, I can stomach that one. What about.

uh Well, you like The Six Sense, right? Everybody liked The Six Sense. Sure. Uh. I guess that was it for him. I loved. Unbreakable. Unbreakable. Yeah, that was. one where like Yeah, I think it was. maybe even better the second time. Yeah, I still like that movie. Uh but then he. also made that Lady in the Water movie. and the the the one with Marky Mark. Uh. the people were jumping off Four. Brothers. No. Three Kings. Uh is it the. one in the elevator? No, he he just.

produced that. Oh, I know what you're. talking about. The one where people are. like jumping off of buildings and stuff. inexplicably. Yeah, that I didn't even I. didn't see that either. I couldn't get. through 10 minutes of that movie. So, um, 2001, back to good movies, was, uh, had a three-act threepart structure, but. not a conventional threeact structure. that you might be used to in movies, which is why it confounded people like. Rock Hudson. Uh, the first, they called. them movements. The first movement was. the, uh, the Dawn of Man sequence with. the the the apes with the with the.

monolith. Um and uh he has that great. part where he throws his little bone. tool up in the air, right? And then it. morphs into well not morphs, but it. maybe it's a dissolve into the um. spinning uh in outer space. It's called. a match cut. Yeah, match cut. And um of. the rotation of what we now know was a. nuclear warhead. Uh because I read that. little article, 20 things you didn't. know about 2001. I didn't know those. were nuclear warheads necessarily in.

outer space. They made it a little more. vague. Initially, it was going to be uh. more explicit and they were going to. explode it in outer space, right? But he. said, "No, this a little too close to uh. the ending of um Strange Love." Strange. Love. Yeah. So, let's not do that. Yeah. Probably a good choice. Yeah. But some. as a result, some people have taken it. to mean that like it was a that match. cut was supposed to show how far humans. have come, right, from using a bone to. murder somebody to satellites in space.

But if you know that the satellite is. actually loaded down with nuclear. warheads, that match cut demonstrates. how little humans have changed. Oh yeah. From using a bone to murder somebody to. using satellites to murder somebody, the. the motif is still the same. And it's. murder. Yeah. He was going for some deep. things. Oh yeah. A lot of metaphor. happening. Yeah. I mean, supposedly in. every single shot because he started out. as a still photographer, right? Yeah. Supposedly every frame of a Kubrick. movie you there is nothing that isn't.

unintentional and placed there by him. He did a lot of his own set decorating. Yeah. Like the the pencil holder on the. desk in the office of the guy at the. Shining Hotel, right, was where it's. supposed to be. Right. And if like if it. has like a the picture of a goat head. inscribed on it, that means something, right? It's not accidental. Yeah. Although I will say room 237, which I. think may have been the point, is a. little bit like these people are crazy. Not like, oh man, I just see what. they're saying in all this, right? I was.

just thinking these people are nuts, right? It it's it was just kind of. enjoyable to hear their interpretations. of it. Well, and I think it had a it was. a comment on obsession and fandom more. so than The Shining. For sure. But there. I thought there some of their ideas were. interesting. Totally. I said room 227, didn't I? Like one of the conspiracy. theorists is like Mary. Wasn't room 227 like a sitcom? Yeah, it. was just called 227. Okay. Yeah. 227. Gotcha. Remember with Jack K, she'd be.

like Mary. Oh, okay. That's what my. impression was. What' you think I was. doing? Well, I wasn't sure what you. meant. Just being a weirdo. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Uh the second movement was, of. course, the uh the how sequence, the. computer, the how uh was it the how. 9000? Yeah. Um, really creepy. And Hal. ended up being a lot of people's. favorite character, even though it was. just a voice, the supercomputer on the. Discovery Ship. Remember, he's like, "What are you doing, Dave?" It's so. creepy. I I had the Mad Magazine spoof.

of 2001 when I was a kid. It was great. Yeah. Uh, and then the third movement is. when Dave uh moves on to. uh the next stage of human development. with these extraterrestrials that you. only hear. And um. basically it's when it comes full. circle, the third movement. And the third. movement is the one that has almost well. it's really just the second movement. that's most dialogue. Yeah. Yeah. Uh.

some of the alternate titles for 2001. Journey Beyond the Stars. Terrible. Universe. Not bad. Yeah. Okay. Uh Tunnel. to the Stars. Not so great. Planet Fall. That sounds. bad. Sounds like a James Bond movie. And. then how the solar system was one as a. play on how the West was one. Yeah. Which like movie geeks would find that. appealing, but everybody else would say. that's dumb. You ruined everything. Yeah. And Kubrick was uh this is the. last thing I have. He was so obsessive.

uh with protecting his material that he. allegedly uh I don't think allegedly. I. think he did Yeah. have all the sets and. props and miniatures destroyed after he. shot it so they would never be reused, which was a common thing at the time. Yeah. Like, hey, we're doing a space. movie. Go get that uh go get that space. ring from Stanley set. Yeah. Let's reuse. it for uh Planet Fall. He uh he also. destroyed all of the footage that didn't. make it into the original theatrical.

release. Yeah. Destroyed. It's gone. Yeah. So they wouldn't one day after his. death recut it, which they invariably. probably would have done. Yep. He's a. smart man. Yeah, I could we we should. just do a podcast on Kubric. Okay. He He. was I I'm down for that challenge. ABA. dude. Yes. One of my heroes. Yeah. Cinematically. You got anything else? I. got nothing else. Uh if you want to know. more about movies, if you like this one, you'll probably also love our. exploitation episode. Exploitation movie.

episode. What else have we talked about. movies in? Cannonball Run. Oh, yeah. That that had a lot to do with the. movie. Yeah. Our James Bond episode. Yeah. Uh yeah, we've had a few of these. and people always respond to these. They're like, "You guys should have a. spin-off show." Yeah. Do an all movie. podcast. Sure. Maybe one day. Maybe. Remember, if you're looking for any of. these, um, press control F or Apple F in. your web browser and search that way on. our podcast archive page. Uh, you can. also search for this uh article on how.

stuff works by typing movies in and. seeing what comes up. And since I said. how stuff works, it's time for listener. mail. Uh, I'm going to call this Mike Dupont. Really clear something up for us on. scientific method. Okay. Uh, hey guys, it was a great um Well, actually, he. doesn't say it was great. I think I just. made that up. Hey guys, your scientific. method podcast has a consistent misuse. of what a scientific law is in relation. to uh to the working of the scientific. method. Uh it appears that you believe.

that a law eg Newton's law of gravity is. in held uh in higher esteem than theory. and that eventually a theory matures. into a law. Um I think I probably did. think that because of politics, right? You know how a bill becomes a law, right? Exactly. He says when in fact. theory is considerably more robust than. a law. Uh, a law is a mathematical model. that describes observed behavior. Does. not answer the why. Right. Theory does. uh answer why something happens. Did we. not say that? I thought we did. Like I I.

knew that. I remember finding that out. from the research. I just can't believe. it didn't come out of my mouth. He. claims we did not. And I feel like I'm. learning this so I definitely did not. Okay, go ahead. But you may have. Uh for. example, Newton's law of gravitational. attraction describes the action of two. bodies that can be used for pretty much. everything. Um it is perfect for. describing what happens, but it cannot. tell you why the two items are attracted. or drill down to the underlying. mechanism. Yeah, law is like much more. succinct. It just is what it is. Uh nor.

is the law even universal and could not. be used to explain the uh parahelion. procession of Mercury's orbit. Burn. In. comparison, Einstein's theory of general. relativity was eventually used to solve. the mercury issue. Oh yeah, the mercury. issue. Uh, and the standard model along. with the recent discovery of the Higs. boson by CERN can answer the why do. these two masses uh attracted to each. other question. I think what you mean is. why are these two masses attracted to.

one another? Mike, it's pretty. teological. uh theory is considerably more developed. and richer than a scientific law which. is more of a tool that is applicable to. a wide range of applications. Keep up. the good work. That is Mike Dupont. Thanks Mike. Thanks for that. Of the. Valley Forge DuPonts, I think so. Huh. Uh have you seen Fox Catcher? Oh, no. I've heard it's good. Is it good? No. Oh, really? I don't think so. No. I've. heard it's kind of slow. It's beyond. slow. Really? Oh, yeah. I I I can.

understand why. Um, the Academy loved it or sure a lot. of people I'm sure do like it. I I was. not a fan of Fox. I think people. generally seeing like a turn by an actor. like Steve Curl doing something really. different, they're knocked out by that. No. I still can't believe you didn't. like Birdman. No. Spoiler alert for. people who have not seen Birdman. The. following conversation is full of. spoilers. Yes. What didn't you like. about it? Um,

so I thought I thought Michael Keane was. good. Okay. Um, who plays his daughter? Emily Blunt. Is. that who that is? Uh, Emma Stone. Emma. Stone. Excellent. Okay. Um, Ed Norton. even pretty good. Okay. So, the acting. was fine. Uh, who is Naomi Watts was in. it? Yeah, she did great. Uh, okay. So, yes, the acting the acting was fine. Sure. I thought the acting was fine. Uh, I thought the photography was amazing. Yeah, the whole seemingly one take thing. kind of knocked you out probably. I.

didn't even pick up on that, but yes, it. did. Um, it was more the uh the for me. the juxiposition of the story. Mhm. Which was pretty boring and and. realistic in everyday life. Even though. it was about a Broadway production, it. was still about the everyday life of it. Sure. Against the surrealism that's like. threaded and embedded in throughout the. whole movie. I didn't like that. Okay. It was like choose one or the other, man. Gotcha. It irked me. Um and uh and.

then just so that one part with the. critic where Michael Keaton tells off. the critic. I thought Michael Keaton did. a wonderful job. Yeah. But just the. whole point that it was in there of like. the director, you know, using Michael Keaton's. character to tell off all the critics. he's ever wanted to tell off in his. movie. I just thought it was pretentious. and I thought it was kind of clumsy in. that sense, too. And it was enough that. it it it tainted it. Yeah. And then the. ending,

I did not like the ending at all. Yeah. At all. That'll ruin a good movie. because it was it completely went. contrary to all the other stuff that he. went out of his way to point out was. fake or fraudulent or not real and then. all of a sudden it is. What? Yeah. No. Choose one or the other. The director. refused to make very important decisions. and I think that that ruined the movie. That is a very well uh thoughtout. criticism, I think. Thank you. Thank you.

very much. Sure. Uh man, that was the. end of listener mail even, wasn't it? Yeah, because now I'm not like, geez, Josh is weird. He didn't like Birdman. Now I'm like, Josh didn't like Birdman. He has good reasons. Thank you. Thank. you. Um I like justifying my opinions. Don't we all? Uh, so if you want to get. in touch with Chuck and I, uh, or Jerry, uh, who I apparently just spoiled. Birdman for, um, you can contact us via. Twitter at syskodcast. You can join us on facebook.com/stuffyou.

should know. You can send us an email, the stuff podcast at houseworks.com. And. as always, join us at our home on the. web, stuffyou know.com. Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].